Idle

Definition: Idle

Idle

Adjective

1. Not in action or at work; "an idle laborer"; "idle drifters"; "the idle rich"; "an idle mind".

2. Without a basis in reason or fact; "baseless gossip"; "the allegations proved groundless"; "idle fears"; "unfounded suspicions"; "unwarranted jealousy".

3. Not in active use; "the machinery sat idle during the strike"; "idle hands".

4. Silly or trivial; "idle pleasure"; "light banter"; "light idle chatter".

5. Lacking a sense of restraint or responsibility; "idle talk"; "a loose tongue".

6. Not yielding a return; "dead capital"; "idle funds".

7. Not having a job; "idle carpenters"; "jobless transients"; "many people in the area were out of work".

Verb

1. Run disconnected or idle; "the engine is idling".

2. Be idle; exist in a changeless situation; "The old man sat and stagnated on his porch"; "He slugged in bed all morning".

Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
 

Date "idle" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1010. (references)

19th Century Satire

Dream Interpretation

Post & Telecom

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

IDLE

Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

Synonyms: Idle

Conversation

Causerie, chat, chitchat; small talk, table talk, teatable talk, town talk, village talk, idle talk; tattle, gossip, babble, babblement; tripotage, cackle, prittle-prattle, cancan, on dit; talk of the town, talk of the village.

Imbecility Folly

Foolish, unwise, injudicious, improper, unreasonable, without reason, ridiculous, absurd, idiotic, silly, stupid, asinine; ill-imagined, ill-advised, ill-judged, ill-devised; mal entendu; inconsistent, irrational, unphilosophical; extravagant; (nonsensical); sleeveless, idle; pointless, useless; inexpedient; frivolous; (trivial).

Inaction

Lie by, lie on the shelf, lie in ordinary, lie idle, lie to, lie fallow; keep quiet, slug; have nothing to do, whistle for want of thought.

Inactivity; rest; (repose); quiescence; want of occupation, inoccupation; idle hours, time hanging on one's hands, dolce far niente; sinecure, featherbed, featherbedding, cushy job, no-show job; soft snap, soft thing.

Inactivity

Render idle; Adjective: sluggardize; mitigate.

Indolent, lazy, slothful, idle, lusk, remiss, slack, inert, torpid, sluggish, otiose, languid, supine, heavy, dull, leaden, lumpish; exanimate, soulless; listless; drony, dronish; lazy as Ludlam's dog.

Idle away time, trifle away time, fritter away time, fool away time; spend time in, take time in; peddle, piddle; potter, pudder, dabble, faddle fribble, fiddle-faddle; dally, dilly-dally.

Leisure

Verb: have leisure; Noun: take one's time, take one's leisure, take one's ease; repose; move slowly; while away the time; (inaction); be master of one's time, be an idle man.

Unimportance

Trifling, trivial; slight, slender, light, flimsy, frothy, idle; puerile; (foolish); airy, shallow; weak; powerless; frivolous, petty, niggling; piddling, peddling; fribble, inane, ridiculous, farcical; finical, finikin; fiddle-faddle, fingle-fangle, namby-pamby, wishy-washy, milk and water.

Wit

Word-play, jeu de mots; play of words, play upon words; pun, punning; double entente, double entendre; (ambiguity); quibble, verbal quibble; conundrum; (riddle); anagram, acrostic, double acrostic, trifling, idle conceit, turlupinade.

Crosswords: Idle

He's from Creta, those people don't make idle threats (The Guns of Navarone; writing credit: Alistair MacLean; Carl Foreman)

In short, she is unprincipled, relentless, and exacting; idle, unproductive, and tedious; unimaginative, humorless, and vain; vindictive, undignified, and weak (The Divorce of Lady X; writing credit: Gilbert Wakefield; Lajos Biró)

Blast the weddings of the idle rich (Wedding Rehearsal; writing credit: Lajos Biró; George Grossmith)

You know Angel, coming from you, idle threats are just soidle (Angel; writing credit: Letícia Dornelles)

Idle hands spend time at the genitals, and you know how much God hates that (Aqua Teen Hunger Force; writing credit: Matt Maiellaro; Dave Willis)

I say, sittin' idle in our boat (Round and Round ["Soul Mix Edit"]; performing artist: Tevin Campbell)

Teacher Strikes Idle Kids (references; author: unknown)

Idle at Work (1972)

The Idle Rich (1929)

Idle Eyes (1928)

An Idle Roomer (1922)

The Idle Class (1921)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Books

• Bone Idle (reference)

• Dreams and Idle Wishes (reference)

• Idle Curiosity (reference)

• Idle Ideas in 1905 (reference)

• No Idle Hands: The Social History of American Knitting (reference)

  (more book examples)

Theater & Movies

• Toy Dolls: Idle Gossip (reference)

  (more DVD examples; more video examples)

Music

• Idle Moments [ORIGINAL RECORDING REMASTERED] (reference)

  (more classical music examples; more popular music examples)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Tears, idle tears. Credit: Library of Congress.

An idle crowd. Credit: Library of Congress.

Soldiers from Fort Benning at Idle Hour amusement park near Phenix City, Alabama. Credit: Library of Congress.

Old locomotive at idle sawmill near Tower, Minnesota. Credit: Library of Congress.

Idle men attend the morning movies. There are three such movies in one block. Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Credit: Library of Congress.

Soldiers in the Idle Hour Amusement Park near Phenix City, Alabama. Credit: Library of Congress.

Keystone Drilling Company, Beaver Falls. Idle automatic screw machines. Credit: Library of Congress.

Idle tile factory. Ottawa, Illinois. Credit: Library of Congress.

The above caddie (in the course of his third round with Colonel Foozle, who always takes out a collection of two dozen clubs, if only for the look of the thing) begins to doubt if he, the caddie, really belongs to the idle classes, as stated in the papers. Credit: Library of Congress.

Help us make it hot for the Kaiser--Buy your stamps here now and see the thermometer go up--War Savings Stamps issued by the United States Government An idle quarter is a slacker quarter--Invest in Thrift Stamps now and save some lad's life in no man's la. Credit: Library of Congress.

Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

They were now approaching the cottage, and all idle topics were superseded

But, one idle and rainy day, it was my fortune to make a discovery of some little interest

This also was a subject of comment for all who were idle or listless in the convent

He burned to appease the fierce longings of his heart before which everything else was idle and alien

O, my lord, You said that idle weeds are fast in growth

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Business

This subsector is however, showing signs of idle capacity due to several factors that have affected the healthcare sector. (references)

This is due to a change in attitude towards physical education, lack of idle time, and competitive prices, all of which changed the best prospects in the market from domestically produced mechanical bodybuilding equipment to imported cardiovascular equipment. (references)

Civil Liberties

Iran

HRW also quoted conservative Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi, who reportedly said on October 3, 2000 that the Government should have "hanged all these idle babblers." In December 2000, Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance Ataollah Mohajerani, a moderate who had attempted to protect press freedoms, resigned, representing a further setback to the protection of freedom of the press. (references)

Economic History

Armenia

Currently, much of industry is either idle or operating at a fraction of its capacity. (references)

Bolivia

Although the company invested millions of dollars in equipment which remains idle, a final settlement of the matter does not appear imminent. (references)

Trade

Ukraine

This activity also helps enterprises restructure and divest idle assets. (references)

Worker Rights

Azerbaijan

Idle factory workers earn a fraction of what they received a decade ago. (references)

Armenia

The majority of industrial enterprises either are idle or operating at a fraction of their capacity. (references)

Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Expressions using "idle": assumed idle ♦ auto Idle ♦ be an idle man ♦ be idle ♦ idle about ♦ idle around ♦ idle away ♦ idle away one's time ♦ idle away oneself time ♦ idle capacity ♦ idle character ♦ idle chatter ♦ idle conceit ♦ idle days ♦ idle equipment ♦ idle fellow ♦ idle gossip ♦ idle hours ♦ idle land tax ♦ idle pleasures ♦ idle power ♦ idle pulley ♦ idle rumor ♦ idle rumour ♦ idle running ♦ idle talk ♦ idle thoughts ♦ idle time ♦ idle wheel ♦ idle words ♦ In idle ♦ lie idle ♦ marked idle channel ♦ render idle ♦ return to an idle condition ♦ stand idle ♦ synchronous idle ♦ the idle rich. Additional references.

Beginning with "idle": Idle-headed, idle-itis, Idle-pated, idle-seeming, idle-speed, idle-up.

Ending with "idle": bone-idle, manoeuvres-idle, off-idle, tone-on-when-idle.

Albanian

i plogët (apathetic, apathetical, clumsy, dull, indolent, inert, lackadaisical, slack, slothful, supine), i papunë (at a loose end, jobless, unemployed), i ngeshëm (at a loose end, downbeat, leisured, unoccupied), rri pa punë (lallygag), rri kot (fribble, loaf, lounge, lounge about), punoj bosh, përtaci (idleness, idling, indolence, inoccupation, laziness, slack, sloth), përtac (dangler, dawdler, do nothing, do-naught, faineant, good for nothing, Idler, indolent, lazy, moocher, ne'er do well, otiose, poke, slacker, slothful, sluggard, snail, sundowner, swabber, truant, twiddler), e ndaluar, dembel (dangler, dawdler, do nothing, do-naught, drone, faineant, floppy, Idler, lazy, lazybones, lazy-boots, lotus eater, slacker, sluggard, work-shy), bosh (bare, bladdery, blank, empty, fiddling, gassy, hollow, hot air, inane, milk and water, open, thin, trifling, unoccupied, vacant, vacuous, void, white). (various references)

Arabic 

‏فارغ (barren, blank, empty, flatulent, hollow, inane, leisure, meaningless, pointless, senseless, silly, stupid, vacuous, vain, windy), ‏كسول (dull, inactive, indolent, inert, languid, languorous, lazy, lethargic, lumpish, passive, shiftless, slothful, slow, sluggard, sluggardly, sluggish, supine), ‏متبطل (inactive, jobless, unemployed, workless), ‏لا عمل له, ‏تكاسل (drowse, laze, lounge), ‏عطل عن العمل, ‏عاطل عن العمل (at a loose end, unemployed), ‏خامل (inactive, lazy, sleepy, sluggish, torpid), ‏الكسلان (slug, sluggard), ‏أضاع الوقت (beat time, fiddle, screw), ‏دار على نحو غير ناقل للطاة. (various references)

Basque

alfer (lazy). (various references)

Bulgarian 

лекомислен (airy, airy fairy, dizzy, empty headed, fast, featherbrained, flip, flippant, foolish, frivolous, giddy, harebrained, harum scarum, inconstant, light, light minded, light-headed, scatter-brained, superficial, trivial, unreflecting, unthinking), правя да не работи, без работа (easeful, inactive, workless), безделнича (bum, drone, fribble, lallygag, lounge, muck about), бездеен (helter-skelter, inactive, indolent, inert, inoperative, passive, sluggish, supine, torpid), бездействувам (be inactive, drift, hibernate, screw around, sit back, sleep, slumber, twiddle one's thumbs), бездействуващ, безработен (jobless, on the wallaby, out of work, unemployed, workless), празен (airy, airy fairy, bare, barren, blank, empty, hollow, inane, light, loose, piffling, pithless, purposeless, sounding, superficial, uncharged, unsubstantial, untenanted, vacant, vacuous, vain, void, yeasty), ленив (indolent, lazy, sleepy, slothful, tardigrade), случаен (accidental, adventitious, adventive, arbitrary, by, casual, chance, facultative, fortuitous, haphazard, hit or miss, hit-and-miss, incidental, long, lucky, occasional, odd, pickup, precarious, promiscuous, random, sporadic, stray, unplanned, unsystematic), мързелив (dozy, faineant, indolent, lazy, shiftless, sluggish, work-shy), напразен (nugatory, pointless, unavailing, unprofitable, useless, vain), незает (free, leisure, off, unappropriated, unemployed, vacant), необоснован (baseless, causeless, ill founded, invalid, precarious, slender, unbacked, unfounded, unsound), неоснователен (gratuitous, groundless, insubstantial, reasonless, unfounded, ungrounded, vain, vexatious), неупотребяван (unused), карам да не работи, шляя се (dally, dawdle, fool about, fool around, gallivant, hang about, hang around, loaf, lollop, meander, mess about, mess around, mooch, moon about, mosey, saunter, screw around, swan around, vagabond), безсъдържателен (empty, inane, insignificant, jejune, meager, meagre, pithless, sterile, unmeaning, vacuous, vain, watery). (various references)

Chinese 

閒 (interstice, separate), 怠 (careless, lazy, negligent), 懶惰 (lazy), 懒惰 (IDLENESS, laziness, lazy), 佚 . (various references)

Czech

zahálet, zahálèivý (inactive, lazy), planý (airy fairy, barren, empty, false, fruitless, sterile, wild), nezamìstnaný (jobless, unemployed), neèinný (dormant, inactive, inert, passive, vacant), líný (faineant, indolent, lazy, remiss, truant), bìžet naprázdno. (various references)

Danish

tomgang (idle running, idling), ledig (applicant for work, free, job seeker), fri (free, unchecked). (various references)

Dutch

vrij (free, sufficiently, unoccupied, vacant), stationair toerental (idle running), stationair bedrijf (idle running), beschikbaar (available). (various references)

Farsi 

وقت گذراندن (Temporize), وقت تلف کردن (Snail), تنبل شدن , تنبل (Inactive, Indolent, Laze, Lazy, Lazybones, Sloth, Slothful, Slouch, Slow, Sluggish, Tardy), بیهوده (Impracticable, Ineffective, Ineffectual, Jejune, Rodomontade, Trashy, Unfruitful, Vain), بیکار (Unemployed, Vacant), بیخود (Gratuitous), بی پروپا, بی اساس (Unfounded, Unsubstantial(Ity)). (various references)

Finnish

vetelehtiä (dawdle, loaf, loiter, lounge, slack), vapaa (disengaged, exempt, free, gratuitous, unchecked, vacant), tyhjä (bare, blank, devoid of, empty, vacant, vain, void), toimeton (inactive, unemployed), laiskotella (be lazy), laiska (indolent, lazy), kulkea joutilaana (dawdle), käydä tyhjäkäyntiä (be idling), joutava (needless, useless). (various references)

French

inoccupé, vain, tourner au ralenti, sans occupation, ralenti (idle running, idling), perdre son temps, paresseux (Idler), libre, fainéanter, fainéant (Idler), en chômage, être paresseux. (various references)

German

träge (dull, idly, indolent, indolently, inert, inertly, languid, languidly, languorous, languorously, lazily, lazy, lethargic, lethargically, phlegmatic, shiftless, slack, slothful, slow, sluggardly, sluggish, stagnant, supine, supinely, tardy, torpid), Leerlauf (free wheel, idling, lost motion, neutral, slack), faulenzen (have laze, laze, laze about, loaf about, loaf around, lounge). (various references)

Greek 

άεργοσ (jobless, unemployed, workless), τεμπελιάζω (dawdle, laze), τεμπέλης (lazy, loafer), αδρανής (inert), αργόσ (dilatory, late, lingerer, otiose, slow), αργόσχολος, οκνηρόσ (lazy, otiose, shiftless, sluggard), λειτουργία ρελαντί (idle running), ρελαντί (idle running), άνεργος (on the dole, out of work, unemployed), άνεργοσ (jobless, unemployed), ελεύθερος (at liberty, freeman), εν κενώ λειτουργία (idle running), φυγόπονοσ (shirker, truant), μάταιοσ (feckless, futile, inane, nugatory, otiose, pointless, vain), αργόσχολοσ (gad about, leisured, loafer, loiterer, play boy, playboy, unoccupied). (various references)

Hebrew 

לפהות, להתבטל (bum around, fall through, lallygag, laze, loaf, loiter, loll, putter, slack), להבטל, לבטל זמן (lallygag, loaf, waste time), עצל (indolent, lazy, slothful, sluggard, sluggish), בטיל (unemployed), בטל (goner, invalid, null, off, piffling, unoccupied, vacant, void), בטול (abolition, annulment, cancellation, cancelling), נפוש (animation). (various references)

Hungarian

tétlen (be inactive, Idler, inactive, indolent, inert, inoperative, leisured, passive, quiescent, sluggish, torpid, unemployed, vacuous), lusta (indolent, laggard, lazy, shiftless, slothful, sluggard, sluggish, tardy). (various references)

Indonesian

nongkrong (hang out, sit around doing nothing, squat), diam (abide, bunk, motionless, silent), bermalas-malasan (dawdle). (various references)

Italian

pigro (Idler, lazy, rottenly, slack, slothful, sluggard, sluggish, truant), ozioso (Idler, inactive, layabout, lazy, otiose). (various references)

Japanese Kanji 

遊休 (fallow, unused), 用無し (useless), 休眠 (dormant), うたた寝 (dozing, long-winded and meaningless, napping on the floor), 不動 (firmness, fixed, immobility, motionless, steadfastness). (various references)

Japanese Katakana 

きゅうみん (disaster relief, dormant, poor people, the poor), うだうだ (long-winded and meaningless), ふどう (difference, disorder, diversity, firmness, fixed, floating, immobility, irregularity, motionless, steadfastness, woman's duties), ゆうきゅう (eternity, fallow, permanence, perpetuity, salaried, unused, with pay), ようなし (pear, useless). (various references)

Korean 

한가. (various references)

Manx

speilleigagh (indolent, trifling), soailchaghey (idling, indulge), rea-chassey, naggyr (disused, neglected, surplus), litcheragh (dronish, idling, lazy, sluggish, workshy), lhiastey (diffident, dilatory, inactive, indolent, languid, languorous, lazy, lethargic, lethargical, reluctant, remiss, slothful, workshy), lhiastagh (haggler, inactive, indolent, languid, latecomer, lethargic, lethargical, loath, moribund, remiss, slothful, sluggish), lag-lauee, jannoo veg. (various references)

Norwegian

uvirksom (inactive), drive dank (loaf), doven (lazy). (various references)

Occitan

pigre (lazy), peresós (lazy). (various references)

Pig Latin

idleay.(various references)

Portuguese

in�til, indolente (apathetic, easygoing, indolent, lazy, loafer, loller, lotus-eater, lounger, lumpish, remiss, shiftless, slack, sleepy, slothful, slowcoach, supine, tardy), inativo (deedless, dormant, inactive, passive, slothful, stagnant, supine, torpid, unemployed, unplaced, work-shy), pregui�oso (indolent), parado (dull, immobile, logged, parked, quit, stagnant, stationary, stop, unmeaning, work-shy), negligente (careless, derelict, devil-may-care, heedless, inadvertent, inattentive, incurious, inobservant, lazy, loose, mindless, neglectful, negligent, perfunctory, reckless, regardless, slack, unheeding, unmindful, unwary), livre (bohemian, clear, disengaged, exempt, fetterless, floating, free, immune, independent, leisured, loose, masterless, off, quit, spare, spontaneous, unappropriated, unattached, unconstrained, unencumbered, unimpeded, unobstructed, unoccupied, unrestrained, untied, untrammelled), desocupado (disengaged, empty, leisured, leisurely, off, otiose, unappropriated, unoccupied, vacant), andar na gandaia (gad about, loaf). (various references)

Romanian

inactiv (dead, dormant, flat, inactive, inoperative, passive, slow, unemployed), indolent (careless, easy going, indolent, lazy, nonchalant, remiss, slack, sleepy, slothful, supine, truant, unheeding), inutil (addle, beside the purpose, bootless, effete, excrescent, fruitless, nugatory, pathetic, pathetically, superfluous, unavailing, unfruitful, unnecessary, unprofitable, useless, uselessly, vain, wasteful, worthless), irosi (cast away, consume, dissipate, fiddle, muddle away, spend, squander, waste), nefolositor (castaway, Duff, futile, of no avail, piddling, profitless, unfit, unsuitable, useless, waste), fãcut în dorul lelii, fãrã temei (groundless, ill founded), leneş (bum, dull, easeful, easy going, Idler, idly, lazily, lazy, lazybones, loafer, loiterer, otiose, shiftless, slothful, sluggard, sluggish, torpid, truant, vacant), lenevi (bum, dawdle, lounge, slack, slug, yawn one's life away), ţine nefolosit, neîntemeiat (baseless, conjectural, flimsy, gratuitously, groundless, insubstantial, unfounded, ungrounded), zadarnic (abortive, bootless, fruitless, futile, ineffective, ineffectual, ineffectually, inexpedient, naught, nugatory, otiose, sinful, to no end, unavailing, unfruitful, unnecessary, useless, vain), nefondat (groundless, ill founded, ungrounded), neocupat (available, disengaged, empty, free, odd, open, unoccupied, vacant, void), nu face nimic (it doesn't matter, laze, lie about, muck about, never mind), nu folosi, prostesc (anile, crazy, fatuous, flim-flam, foolish, idiotic, idiotical, insensate, nonsensical, silly, stupid, witless), stupid (doltish, dull, dull-witted, foolish, foolishly, Goosey, idiotic, idiotical, inane, inept, insipid, mindless, senseless, silly, stupid, stupidly, wooden-headed), trândav (easeful, inactive, lazy, sluggard, sluggish, truant, vacant), trândavi, van (abortive, flimsy, futile, nugatory, useless, vain, vainglorious), merge în gol. (various references)

Russian 

холостой ход (no-load), тщетный (frustrate, nugatory, unavailing), ожидание холостой;праздный;ленивый, неработающий (out of gear), незанятый (easeful, free, odd, unemployed, unoccupied, vacant), лентяйничать (mooch), лениться, ленивый (faineant, floppy, indolent, lazy, ornery, otiose, slack, slothful, supine, work-shy), бесполезный (abortive, bootless, fatuous, feckless, fiddling, fruitless, futile, good for nothing, inutile, naught, needless, nugatory, of no avail, otiose, unavailing, unhelpful, unprofitable, useless, valueless, virtueless), бездельничать (bum, dawdle, drone, fiddle about, fribble, lallygag, laze, loaf, molder, moulder, sit back, twiddle, while the time away), праздный (easeful, indolent, vacuous). (various references)

Scottish

diamhain, dìomhain (to no purpose, unavailing). (various references)

Serbo-Croatian

zaludan (futile, useless), raditi na praznom hodu, prazan (blank, clean, cored, empty, inane, leer, unoccupied, vacant, vacuous, void), lišiti zaposlenja, lenčariti (kick one's heels, loaf, muck about, slug), ležeći (lying, prone), dokolica (leisure), besposlen (leisured, unemployed). (various references)

Spanish

ocioso (at leisure, dawdler, Idler, inactive, leisured, leisurely, unoccupied, useless), libre (disengaged, exempt, free, leisure, loose, off duty, open, quit, spare, unattached, unchecked, unoccupied, vacant, vacationist). (various references)

Swedish

sysslolös (unemployed, unoccupied), overksam (be inactive, dormant, inactive, ineffective, passive), lat (lazy), fåfäng (conceited, fruitless, futile, unavailing, useless, vain). (various references)

Thai

เกียจคร้าน (inactive, laze, lazy), ซึ่งไม่มีประโยชน์ (inefficacious), ซึ่งยังไม่ได้ใช้การ. (various references)

Turkish

işsiz güçsüz (at an end, idled), işlemeyen (at rest, inoperative), işe yaramaz (dud, fiddling, good for nothing, it's no use, no good, noneffective, non-effective, null, of no avail, of no use, offcast, otiose, out, refuse, reject, unfit, unserviceable, useless, weedy), gereksiz (digressive, excrescent, gratuitous, indecent, indiscreet, inessential, needless, no, non essential, nonessential, otiose, redundant, supererogatory, superfluous, uncalled for, unjustifiable, unnecessary, unneeded, unneedful), avare (dawdler, dosser, drifter, good-for-nothing, idled, rover, straggler, straggling, straggly, strayed, stroller, vagabond, vagrant, wanderer, wandering, yob), aylak (bum, bummer, dawdler, Idler, layabout, loafer, loiterer, otiose, runabout, unemployed, vagabond, vagrant), başıboş (adrift, footloose, idled, rambling, roving, straggling, straggly, stray, strayed, vagabond, vagrant), boş (airy, barren, blank, bootless, captious, chimerical, desert, disengaged, empty, expressionless, fallacious, flat, for hire, free, frivolous, frothy, futile, gaseous, hollow, inane, ineffective, ineffectual, invalid, leisure, meaningless, nugatory, null, pointless, puerile, punk, purposeless, spare, tenantless, thin, trumpery, unbuilt, unbuilt-on, unengaged, unfounded, unoccupied, unprofitable, unrecorded, unwritten-on, vacant, vacuous, vain, void, waste, windy, wishywashy, without any foundation, without foundation, yeasty), boş durmak, boşa geçen, çalışmayan (at rest, inactive, inoperative, leisured), boşta olmak (be at a loose end), yersiz (Amiss, baseless, beside the point, digressive, discursive, ill timed, impertinent, improper, inapposite, inappropriate, inapt, incongruous, indecent, indiscreet, inept, inexpedient, infelicitous, injudicious, inopportune, irrelevant, malapropos, out of place, out of turn, uncalled for, uncomely, undue, unhappy, unjustifiable, unseasonable, untimely, untoward, unwarranted), haylaz (abandoned, good for nothing, lazy, naughty, rapscallion, scamp, shiftless), kullanılmayan (abandoned, dead, disused, obsolete, out of use, unappropriated, unserviceable, untapped, untravelled, unused), tembel (asleep, bonelazy, do nothing, do-little, drone, gold brick, idle fellow, Idler, inactive, indolent, inert, laggard, languid, languorous, lazy, lazy person, lazybones, loon, lounger, slack, slacker, slothful, slouch, slug, sluggard, sluggish, stagnant, tired, torpid, workshy), verimsiz (abortive, barren, emaciated, fruitless, ineffectual, inefficacious, inefficient, infertile, jejune, lean, poor, sterile, thin, unfruitful, unproductive, unprofitable, unthrifty), boşa harcamak (cast away, chuck away, dissipate, fling away, footle, fritter, fritter away, frivol away, idle away, lavish, misapply, misspend, pass away, pour down the drain, scatter, squander, squander away, throw away, throw to the dogs, trifle away, waste). (various references)

Turkmen 

peяwagtna (aimless, in one's way), яalta (lazy, still), зaman (lazy, sluggish), bikдr. (various references)

Ukrainian

холостий (dummy, wifeless), незайнятий (dateless, free, not occupied, odd, off, otiose, unemployed, unoccupied, vacant), непрацюючий (out of use, out of work), марний (bootless, feckless, frustrate, futile, naught, needless, nugatory, of no effect, otiose, sleeveless, unavailable, vain), ледарювати (dawdle, fribble, frivol, laze, loaf, mess about, mess around, mooch, poke, potter about, potter around, twiddle one's thumbs), ледачий (easeful, lazy, slothful, sluggish), безгрунтовний, байдикувати (bum, dawdle, drone, hang about, knock around, lallygag, loiter away, sit back, snooze, twiddle), працювати в холосту. (various references)

Vietnamese 

vu vơ (aimless, gratuitous, idly), vẩn vơ (idly), vô hiệu quả (idly), tình trạng nhàn rỗi sự chạy không, ngồi rồi, lười nhác không có công ăn việc làm, không tác dụng, không làm việc gì không làm ăn gì cả, không chạy vô ích, không căn cứ (groundless, ill-founded, unfounded), không đi đến đâu không đâu, ăn không ngồi rồi (idleness, idlesse, loose). (various references)

Welsh

segura, segur, ofera (squander, waste), ofer (abandoned, dissipated, prodical, vain, waste), gweili (empty), diogi (be lazy, laziness). (various references)

quieta, quietam, quieti, quietis, quietissimus, quieto, quietum, quietus, reside, vanus. (various references)

asolcen, idel. (various references)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Derivations

Words beginning with "idle": idled, idleness, idlenesses, idler, idlers, idles, idlesse, idlesses, idlest. (additional references)

Words ending with "idle": bridle, overidle, sidle, unbridle. (additional references)

Words containing "idle": aidless, bridled, bridler, bridlers, bridles, lidless, midleg, midlegs, ridley, ridleys, sidled, sidler, sidlers, sidles, unbridled, unbridles. (additional references)

Misspellings

"Idle" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: adle, dile, Dileo, dilex, dilge, dilne, dilq, disle, dle, edel, edle, eedle, Eytle, iale, ible, iclr, idal, idde, ide, idel, idella, idely, idie, Idil, idila, idiled, idl, idlc, idlek, idley, idli, idlot, idoe, idole, Idolo, idyla, idyle, ield, Iflo, igle, ikle, ild, ilda, ilde, I'le, ileg, ileh, ille, indel, Inle, iole, irdle, irle, Itale, kidle, liddle, lidle, niddle, odle, odyle, videl. (additional references)

Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams

Direct Anagrams: deil, deli, diel, lied.

-1 letter: del, die, eld, led, lei, lid, lie.

-2 letters: de, ed, el, id, li.

+1 letter: ailed, bield, deils, delis, devil, edile, elide, felid, field, filed, flied, gelid, glide, ideal, idled, idler, idles, isled, liked, limed, lined, lived, oiled, oldie, piled, plied, riled, sidle, slide, tilde, tiled, wield, wiled, yield.

+2 letters: aedile, afield, aisled, alined, aliped, allied, ariled, audile, bailed, belied, bields, bilged, bilked, billed, bindle, birled, boiled, bolide, bridle, ceiled, chield, childe, clerid, coiled, deasil, decile, defile, delict, delime, delist, deltic, denial, dentil, derail, detail, devils, dewily, dialed, dialer, dibble, diddle, diesel, dilate, dildoe, dilled, dilute, dimple, dindle, dingle, diplex, diploe, dipole, direly, dirled, dispel, docile, doiled, doolie, dreidl, drivel, duelli, edgily, edible, ediles, eidola, elapid, elided, elides, engild, exiled, eyelid, failed, felids, fiddle, fields, filled, filmed, flited, foiled, gilded, gilder, gilled, girdle, glided, glider, glides, glimed, guiled, hailed, halide, heiled, hilled, hilted, ideals, idlers, idlest, indole, jailed, jilted, keloid, killed, kilned, kilted, kindle, laddie, ladies, laired, lazied, levied, licked, lidded, lieder, lifted, lilied, lilted, limbed, limned, limped, linden, linked, lipide, lipped, lisped, listed, mailed, medial, meloid, middle, midleg, milden, milder, mildew, milked, milled, milted, misled, moiled, nailed, nilled, oldies, piddle, pilled, pleiad, railed, redial, regild, relaid, relied, riddle, ridgel, ridley, rifled, rilled, roiled, sailed, sedile, seidel, shield, sidled, sidler, sidles, silked, siloed, silted, sliced, slider, slides, slimed, sliped, smiled, soiled, spiled, tailed, tildes, tilled, tilted, tirled, titled, toiled, vailed, veiled, vialed, wailed, whiled, widdle, widely, wields, wieldy, wilder, willed, wilted, windle, yields.